How To Create An Excellent Research Paper Introduction

Why is the research paper introduction important?

Well, no one would want to read a paper that begins with a droning account of how the so and so industry boomed in the past but is now declining. As a writer, it is your job to make sure that your paper draws people in right from the get-go, even if it is on a supposedly boring topic. So, how do you create an excellent research paper introduction? Read on to find out:

Write what you would want to read.

Consider these two examples:

“The X industry experienced a boom in the 1970s, when Mr. X bought the company off of Mr. Y and set about the task of remodeling it.”

“The seventies is a decade infamous for many things: bad music, even worse clothes, and, of course, industry X. A man, Mr. X, was once passing by the. . .”

Which one would you choose?

You want to make your introduction as interesting as possible since these few paragraphs are where you will either lose or keep readers. Thus, think about what you would want to read, and write it.

Do not make the introduction too long:

Just like an overly long introduction takes away the beauty of a beautiful essay, an excessively wordy introduction takes from the element of a research paper. Tell the people what the paper is about in the first paragraph itself. If you take too long to reach the point, half of your readers will never make it to the end.

Refrain from giving background info:

Would you like to continue reading a research paper that gives you too much information about what you already know?

Remember, your readers are already proficient in the background of the topic, so unless it is something that is relatively new or has not been worked upon, there is no need to provide excessive background information in the introduction.

Proofread:

There is nothing off-putting than an introduction written excellently, but riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Scratch that: any introduction riddled with spelling and grammatical errors is not an excellent introduction. Thus, always proofread your work. Students are almost always careless with the intro since they pay too much attention to their data and none at all to the starting of their paper.

However, readers are more likely to quit reading your paper in the first few pages if they find any errors, no matter how secure your findings are.